This invention relates to a topical dressing for the treatment of wounds or surgical incisions. In particular, the invention is directed to a dressing impregnated with a mixture of tannins which will stimulate the blood clotting process. The dressing is prepared in a manner which renders it usable in sterile environments.
A wide spread use of aspirin therapy throughout the general population to reduce the clotting characteristics of blood along with the increased prescribing of anticoagulant drugs, such as warfarin sulfate and heparin, have created difficulties for medical practitioners in treating patients taking anticoagulant drugs. In order for doctors and dentists to engage in procedures which are likely to generate blood flow from a wound created in the course of the procedure, the patient is often told to cease taking the medication for a period of several days and perhaps a week before returning to have the procedure performed. For a patient with a pain-inducing tooth to have to endure the accompanying pain for an extended period before an extraction can be performed, the wait is more than just inconvenient.
Many persons are placed on a regimen of anticoagulant drugs because of major health problems wherein the possibility of vascular clotting has serious implications. Patients in these categories are advised not to discontinue their anticoagulant medication in view of the potential adverse consequences. As a result, extraordinary procedures are often required to bring about a cessation of blood flow from even minor procedures. These patients can be made subject to additional risks even from routine procedures which the general population regards as relatively minor procedures.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a dressing for a wound which facilitates and hastens the cessation of blood flow therefrom. The dressing is a sterile impregnated gauze wherein the impregnant is a plant-based astringent that exhibits antibacterial properties and causes blood coagulation which aids in closure of the wound. The impregnant is a solution of black teas from the Pekoe plant and sterile water. The gauze dressing is sufficiently durable to allow pressure to be applied thereto further aiding in the closure of the wound.